MONDAY DIARY: ALMOST EXCRUCIATINGLY TRUE STORIES: TRIGGER WARNING, THE WORD "TRUMP" IS USED IN THIS CARTOON.

This is not a post about President Trump - it is about his name.  Say what you will about him good or ill, one can't deny that the mere mention of his name will bring about a strong reaction.  And typically a lengthy one at that.  It's like a popular song - whether you like it or not - of which you only need to hear a scrap of it and it plays in your head all day long.  Except, instead of playing in your head, all one needs is to hear the name "Trump" and someone else will go off all day long.

I get that people are passionate about the president - so much so that no calm discussion can be had about him.  Listen to the radio, open the paper, read a Facebook feed etc., and there will be a steady diet of news about him more than about anybody else I can remember.

Recently I was with a group of people who were not shy about their extreme dissatisfaction with our president.  Every time his name was mentioned, even by an otherwise ignored radio, the room would burst into an uproar.  There were so many things about which to talk - sports, art, what taco stand is the best - but it all went on hold for ten minutes to focus on someone they agreed numerous times that they disliked.  I'm even wary of writing this that someone out there will assume my position on the president and rake me over the coals for it - or are perhaps just angry that I associated his name with this comic.

One day I broke away to go for a walk and came across this piece of lawn art:

As I was preparing to take a picture of it, a man rode up behind me in his automated wheelchair and started asking me questions.  "What is it?  Is it a giraffe?  Isn't too big?"  As he was riding away I saw the sign on the back of his chair:

I decided not even to bring the sighting up as funny and ironic as it should have been whether you like him or not.

It's not that there are not things about which just about anybody could complain.  And it is good to get it out there.  But isn't there a point when it is not being productive any longer?

MONDAY DIARY: ALMOST EXCRUCIATINGLY TRUE STORIES: ANTHONY, ANTHONY, COME AROUND

This past weekend was a great one for our little neighborhood of West Akron.  The city brought the "BIG" stage out to Elm Hill Park, known to most people as Forest Lodge Park.  For two nights they had the Verb Ballet and on the third night the Akron Symphony Orchestra.  HUNDREDS of people made their way to our little park.  I had family and friends over and we walked out the front door of the rectory practically into the audience area.  NICE!

It was a great crowd.  The event planners were also great about cleaning up after.  It would be difficult to know there were so many people here the Monday after the event.  It was spectacular.

Even so, I warned the residents in the rectory that we should be careful about making sure buildings and vehicles are locked up.  Always a prudent thing to do anyway, it seemed especially sensible thing to do with the crowds that were expected.

But everything seemed fine - fine, that is until I went into the sacristy on Monday morning and was greeted with this:

Cigaret butts were bad enough but we could deal with it.  But the TABERNACLE KEY!  That was SERIOUS!  Was it left out after the last Mass???  Did someone take the opportunity to lift it?  A search was executed first for the key and to check out every nook and cranny to see if anything else was damaged or missing.  It seemed that the only thing missing was the key.  But that was serious.

So what was it?  Did someone come in and smoke (were they drunk or high?) and go up to the tabernacle and see the ornate key and decide just to pocket it?  This is awful!  I told our business manager to look at the security tapes but it NEVER FLIPPED UP TO THE SANCTUARY TO CATCH THE THEIF!  We put out a repair order for the camera.

Meanwhile plans were made to safeguard the Blessed Sacrament.  An extra key would have to be made (so we still would have two) and plans to have the lock changed and secure the building until it was or keep the Eucharist in the rectory tabernacle until this was resolved - or what?  Put a chain around the tabernacle doors?

While all this mania was going on, I took one last look in the vault.

Yep.  There it was.  Not in its usual spot but it was in there.  So no need to repair the security cameras.  What a waist of perfectly good hysteria.  It was like when Mom would tell you exactly were the Mayo was in the refrigerator and you would say, "I can't find it," and she should walk right in and put her hand on it.  "It's right there in front of your eyes John Anthony!  Why, if was a snake . . ."

Well.  Thank you St. Anthony.

JUST SO YOU KNOW:  I'm going to Kansas City - Kansas City here I come so I am not sure there will be any posts the rest of the week.  We'll see.

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CDLXVIII

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND:  "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been.  The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'"  Isaac Asimov

IN OTHER NEWS:

It is difficult to see through the trees but the city is setting up the "BIG" stage in Elm Hill Park (AKA Forest Lodge Park) across the street from St. Sebastian.  We have been wondering where they were going to set it up - it will be over by the ball field.  Thursday and Friday night there will be the ballet and on Sunday night the Akron Symphony Orchestra will play practically in my front yard.  Awesome!

Bishop Barron in the Childfree Life (8.5)

MONDAY DIARY: ALMOST EXCRUCIATINGLY TRUE STORIES: NEW WAYS TO DO OLD THINGS

Some of you may not want to read this.  Trigger warning.

Yesterday I spent much of the day at our seminary with some other priests helping Fr. Trenta, formerly in residence at St. Sebastian and currently my cousin, get acclimated to his new digs.  It reminded me of something that happened a few years ago when I was there visiting Fr. Ott.  I needed to use his necessary room (WC) and he suggested that I use his new contraption and see what I think. This was back when the Squatty Potty was all the rage.  Only if you need to know what this is see the following video - if not, skip it.

So I tried it out and it seemed to me a waste of a portion of a perfectly good paycheck.

And this is why, even on the simplest of new things, one should always explain to someone who has never seen or heard of such a thing how to use it.

DON'T SETTLE FOR SECOND BEST

If you have a creek that flows through your property that you absolutely appreciate and want to clean the water that runs through it, it would be wise to first clean the head waters that are not on your property.  If the water that comes in is clean, that means the water on your property will be cleaner.  If you care for that which is first, second things are cared for better.  

It’s a rough analogy, but that is kind of what Jesus was talking about when He said, very bluntly, “He who loves (mother, father, son, daughter . . . ) more than Me is not worthy of Me.”  (Matthew 10:37).  Very often someone will say that they find it difficult to love God more than a spouse or child as if by loving God first, their loved one is loved less.  This is not the case.  In fact, it is the opposite.

God is not a source of love.  God IS love itself.  He is the river and source of all love that flows into your life.  Although we say that there are different kinds of love, there is not.  There is only one love and it comes from God.  There are different appropriate expressions of it, but there is only one love.  If we love God first, second persons are not loved less but are loved more in keeping with their nature - they are loved better and more fully.

Placing all of one’s hopes of being loved, of being cared for, of being protected and appreciated on a human person is too much for any human to bear.  It is hanging a hat on a hook that cannot support the weight.  That weight is to be borne by God.  Placing it entirely on another human person leaves us extremely vulnerable to disappointment or devastation.  

Building first on the love of God takes an extreme pressure off of a relationship and leaves both far less vulnerable.  It helps give them the security of being loved while not taxing each other for a sense of self worth and dignity.  That all flows from upstream, purifying the waters of love and making it far easier to tend to.  

Our faith is not just about following a bunch of rules, it is about discovering how we thrive best.  As creatures we have certain conditions in which we flourish.  Loving God first is one of those ways in which human relationships grow to their potential.  Cutting God out of that process or making it secondary is placing true love on a back burner in favor of something less worthy and effective.  Unknowing, perhaps, they want less than God.

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CDLXVII

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND:  "The man who won't give up comfort for success makes a bad partner."  from Richrd Stark's, "The Jugger"

QUOTE II:  "The necessary can always be done."  same source.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Last night was Theology on the Rocks with Fr. Zerucha.  There were over 90 people who fit FAR better in this new venue.  The food was a step up from last month.

 Thanks to seminarian Joe Mannerino who provided entertainment on the piano.

 All kinds of plant improvements going on at the parish - but these make me smile a little more - a new fence in the cutting garden:

 And our flagpole was painted!

From last night's talk - Should we baptize extraterrestrials?  

MONDAY DIARY: ALMOST EXCRUCIATINGLY TRUE STORIES: THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD

We've had a lot of over night guests at the St. Sebastian rectory as of late.  It's been a lot of fun having a full house.  It can also be a lot of work at times but it is worth it both for me and for the parish community coming in contact with so many wonderful priests and seminarians.

One of the things you give up (as anybody in any kind of relationship knows) when you invited people into your life is total control.  For example, Marcy was in the kitchen the other morning asking, "What is THIS doing in THIS drawer?"  I replied, "Yeah.  It made sense to somebody.  If you can't find that for which you are looking just keep going.  It will turn up somewhere."  Better these little triflings than to be living by myself in this big house with a fern.

So you do your best and try to fix what you can and so I headed up to the room to set things right (trying to save the parish a few bucks.)

 I turned off the lights, and started shutting the windows . . .

And yes it did stink in there.  Badly.  I was thinking that I may have to have a talk with the person in the morning about hygiene and communal living.  But, as it turns out, I would have had the conversation with the wrong lodger.

In another room, a good buddy of mine was taking something of a retreat.  He moved in for a few days to enjoy the rectory, con-celebrated Mass and take advantage of the quiet in the house and the good food at table.  I thank Monsignor Zwisler, the founder of the parish and the man who built this rectory, that he made it nice and provided us with a number of suites so that we could be hospitable to clergy who need a room from time to time.

Father didn't come alone however.  He brought a roommate; a chocolate lab who, by the way, turns one year old today!  Happy birthday buddy.  Anyway, he is a TRUE puppy and with enough energy that he probably makes a significant addition to global warming.  While an adorable, welcome and friendly dog, he is not quite as well trained (yet) as Sebastian and Chester.  It must be like having kids - when you don't see him and it is very quiet, you know something bad is happening.

Well, apparently he made his way into the the other lodger's room who left the light on and the windows open, climbed up on the bed and left a little (well, BIG actually) present.

THAT was the smell that I detected when I went in to close the windows.  I almost left without noticing the offending pile but something made me look over at the last second.  I got the owner and showed him what happened and we stripped, cleaned and changed the bed.  

Now mind you, it was already pretty late at night.  Going for the walk was the last thing I was going to do before hitting my mattress.  I wonder, what would have happened if the lights were not left on or the window left open?  I would not have gone in that room!  Further proof that getting upset and upsett worthy things is not always productive.  Sometimes it is God using unusual circumstances to bring attention to something that needs tending to.  What if that lodger had come in late, late, late at night (as he did) and just dove on to his bed to crash (which he did), what disaster would have taken place then?

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CDLXVI

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND:  "The Ten Commandments were meant to salvage Israel's freedom by staving off whatever could menace it.  What at first blush looks like bondage (a catalogue of duties) in fact protects freedom . . . [they] are something like a code of honor of free people, of gentlemen who are aware of 'what is not done.'"  from Remi Brague's, article, "God as a Gentleman" in First Things

IN OTHER NEWS:

Tickets on sale now!  We sold out last year - just so you know . . . 

Working on the bell tower of the school cleaning and tuck pointing:

Fr. Latkovich came to visit and make us dinner!

Mulch Day!  Everybody's favorite day!  Lots of volunteers + 80 yards of mulch + 8 acres = a long day.

Corpus Christi procession from St. Sebastian to the Julie Billiart chapel.

Bishop Barron on the Limits of Tolerance - Gosh, isn't it wonderful to have a bishop so in love with he faith and the Church and sticks his neck out so publicly so often!?

MONDAY DIARY: ALMOST EXCRUCIATINGLY TRUE STORIES: COULD THIS BE A PATH TO MARTYRDOM?

This past weekend we celebrated Corpus Christi with a procession from St. Sebastian church to the Julie Billiart chapel.  It was swell.  Most of the things that went "wrong" were unnoticeable.  At one point one of the server's bells exploded leaving pieces in the street.  And then there was wearing our 90th anniversary cope - beautiful and HEAVY.  

So at one point I am kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament and I move to stand up and realize that TONS of material are wrapped around my foot.  (How does that happen?!?!) I try surreptitiously to free my foot reaching down under the cope with my hand trying not to draw attention to myself.  But I can't tell what's wrapped or how.  I try shaking my foot but that makes things worse.  

One thing that sometimes works is if you try to stand up on one foot - the one that you assume is free from all encumbrance hoping that the act of standing will pull the fabric and free the encumbered foot.  That works but it is risky.

One could just be honest and make a show of climbing out of the predicament in which one finds oneself - I am sure that people would understand.  But I also like things to look good and to not draw attention to myself.  That's part of the reason for all the vestments - to hide the man - he's not important - Jesus is.

Well, I'd been kneeling for a long time hoping to extricate myself but there was no go and people were perhaps becoming annoyed with what they assumed was my lengthy piety.  So I tried the one foot maneuver.  Things seemed to be going and well and I thought I was free and so put my other foot down and then . . .

Worst of all scenarios.  The material was still around my foot and when I put it down everything tightened around my neck and yanked me to the side like a boat taking on water and listing to the port side.  The chapel appears to suddenly at an angle.  Embarrassment sets in more quickly than a February cold - so I shake my foot free, regain uprightness, and pretend like nothing happened.

I would like to personally thank all those present who didn't point it out afterward.  You are awesome.

WHY WHICH BRAND OF SELF DRIVING CAR YOU BUY MATTERS

You Catholic faith has a lot to do with what self driving car you buy in the future.

Maybe ten years from now you are happily driving (well, riding) along, drinking you coffee and finishing up some last minute things as your car speedily scoots you along to your destination.  All of a sudden and in a way that could not be predicted, three people tumble into the street in your path: an elderly man, a pregnant woman and a well dressed middle aged guy.  There is nothing that can be done!  The car will have to hit one of these people while you drink your coffee or veer off of a cliff killing you, possibly some woodland creatures and possibly cause some pollution to the environment.

The decision is not made in a vacuum.  A computer does not make this decision.  All of the input comes from human beings and somewhere along the line someone programed a decision as to who will be sacrificed in the computer’s brain.  As it turns out the old man is a great senator, the woman would go on to be a terrible mother causing her child to be a terrorist and the well dressed man was on a job interview, that he didn’t get, and will spend the next 30 years living for free in his mother’s basement playing video games.  Does this matter?

Who gets to decide who gets hit?  Are you still morally culpable in any way?  What if you have to decide, before you buy the car, what moral standards you will use.

You new car comes with your choice of:

Traditional Judeo/Christian ethics

Revised Judeo/Christian ethics for the modern person

Atheist

non-denominational

Buddhist

Utilitarianism

AND MANY MORE!  YOU CHOOSE!

Often the Catholic Church is accused of being anti-science (an illusion of which an honest historian will relieve you.)  Often the Church is just saying, “This is new territory and we should think about the moral implications before blindly going forward and ending up someplace we don’t want to be.”  Science, as is its current nature, wants to march on with what it can do (rather than, sometimes, what it should do) and wants to police itself (which we see how well that turned out in the Catholic hierarchy.)  

Go science!  Go faith!  Hand in hand we can do much good together.

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CDLXV

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND:  "For this blending of men and women, nations and nations, is truly a return to the chaos and unconsciousness that were before the world was made." from G. K. Chesterton's, "What Right with the World"

IN OTHER NEWS:

L.K. sent in THIS article about "The Cardinal Who Loves Chesterton."  Thanks

This was drawn by a talented young person.  I think she did a pretty good job when compared to the original below!

P.V. sent in THIS article about the sexualization of children.

Theology on the Rocks returned and was at the Tangier

 Here are some of the people who make it all happen!  Thank you!

I guess it was announced this morning that we would be returning to the Tangier.  They are working on improving the food.  See below:

 Tickets are on sale now for the Jazz Fest:

Bishop Barron on Jordan Peterson and Sam Harris - about 8 minutes.

MONDAY DIARY: ALMOST EXCRUCIATINGLY TRUE STORIES: IT GOES BOTH WAYS

This past weekend at the 4:30 Mass the singing was so above average for the congregation that I had to say something at the beginning of the Mass.  I believe I said something along the lines of, "That was awesome!  The best you have ever sounded!"  And indeed it seemed as though more people than usual were participating and in our big, echo-y church it was inspiring.  Even the Our Father was prayed with extra loud gusto.  When that happens I get excited and have more life when I celebrate.  Then that feeds back into the congregation and then back to me and so forth.  It's great.

One of the great things about it is that the congregation is not there to witness but to pray and offer THEIR sacrifices too.  It "shouldn't" matter who the priest is - or how exciting the Mass is - or if one is entertained enough or not - we are their to pray our little hearts out regardless.

One of the drawbacks to the priest no longer facing east in the Mass is that a now people hang a lot more on the personality of the priest for what they "get out of it."  Sometimes people will say something about a priest not being exciting enough etc . . .   But if you want your priest to be excited, what are you giving him to work with?  It is easy to see why sometimes a priest might want to say Mass facing east again.

There is the unchecked yawn where a priest, in the middle of prayer, will look up and be able to count the number of fillings a particular parishioner might have.

Then there is the death stare person.  No matter what you say - you get the death stare.  Fortunately I know a lot of these people and it is just who they are.  It has little to no bearing on whether they are taking it in, mad, finding it hilarious or offensive.

Then there is the person with consumption whose mother never taught him to cover his mouth or to wait.  Can you imagine talking to someone in the grocery store and in the middle of your sentence, looking right at you, he hacks up a fur ball the size of a compact car?  It is a little disconcerting.

Add to that errant phones, screaming children, bathroom runs, latecomers and a host of other things and east starts looking mighty good.

But, in the end, a priest loves all of these people because they are part of his family.  And that is what one does with family and in the best situations the priest is loved back the same way.  I would rather have every one of these people there than not there.  It also helps me to remember that I am not there to pray well when others are praying well but to pray my best regardless - and hope others do the same when I am off my game.